When I read about this documentary programme advertised, I recognised a couple of the things mentioned that would be included, and I had my guesses of what else may be included, so I was really looking forward to watching. Basically, the show was a three-hour collection of clips, focusing on the mostly negative moments on televised shows featuring comedy, including sketch shows, comedy panel shows, stand-up comedy, topical comedy shows, during chat shows, during talent shows, during awards shows, in social media, in interviews and much more. These moments included unfunny material, accidents and mistakes, tasteless or inappropriate material, moments that caused controversy, dated humour, and much more, in Britain and/or around the world.
Comedians going wrong included: Greg Davies hosting the Royal Variety Performance 2018 beginning to introduce the wrong act, the pre-recorded blunder was included in the broadcast show; and Peter Kay reluctant to sit down on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, he messed around on set and makes fun of it, he took over the show and swapped with Alan to introduce him as a "guest", then Peter leant over on the chair, falling over and hitting his face knocking the drinks cabinet. Popular TV shows featuring comedy going wrong included: Have I Got News for You with Ian Hislop getting annoyed by Jeremy Clarkson making certain jokes, Jeremy reminded him that he didn't write the jokes, Ian takes the mick of his newspaper column, Jeremy threw a pen at him, and there was accusation of assault as red was seen, either blood or pen ink; Sean Lock interviewing Bill Bailey on TV Heaven Telly Hell, they showed Brian May playing the National Anthem on top of Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee, Bill re-enacted this moment playing electric guitar, Sean came on dressed as the Queen, threw a handbag at Bill's face, Bill kept playing, they met again on Bill's show Comic's Choice a year later, Sean made a joke rather than apologising; Tonight at the London Palladium with Joe Pasquale in the royal box with a puppet, whilst talking to host Bradley Walsh the puppet's head fell off, this inadvertently became the highlight; and A League of Their Own did BMXing racing with small bikes, Romesh Ranganathan fell off his bike and was in pain with a broken wrist, the other presenters kept making E.T. jokes (the bike was named E.T.). Embarrassing comedy moments included: Stand Up Central with Russell Howard reading a comment from an audience member about being a "stegosaurus" and another from her carer, he engaged with the people in the audience, they tell him that she is disabled and the man next to her is her carer, Russell rolled around in awkwardness that he has made himself look bad; and 1990s show A Stab in the Dark, hosted by David Baddiel, politician Michael Gove attempted comedy, he was terrible at delivery and had no comic timing, and there is no laughter from the audience. Popular comedy shows having mishaps included: QI with Alan Davies given a walking stick with a saw on it, an antique, he tried to saw various things, then he grabbed a wooden part of the desk and saws it, Stephen Fry told him to stop; Taskmaster with the guests tasked with walking over to bash a drum within ten seconds, bonus points would be given for the "most magnificent walk", Jessica Knappett fell off the stage while making her attempt, but she got up and hit the drum, she got the extra point; and Shooting Stars with the Dove from Above categories board, Bon Mortimer is pooed on by a button Vic Reeves presses, at one point the button didn't work, Vic got up and slipped on the white stuff (fake poo), they later removed the Dove from the series. Unfunny comedy moments included: Locked Down Under (the lockdown version of The Last Leg) with Miriam Margoyles as a guest talking from home on internet camera, she talked about how the government had handled the COVID-19 pandemic, she said that she wished Prime Minister Boris Johnson would die, then she reversed her comment, the show received complaints; and the Comedy Central Roast Battle of Donald Trump with Jersey Shore star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino trying to make jokes, there were no laughs, he was being nasty and his jokes were rubbish, the audience booed. Unintentional funny things included: The Arthur Haynes Show was filmed live, Haynes was in a scene with Wendy Richard and Nicholas Parsons, a joke about a "winkle" caused the cast to giggle hysterically, the more they corpsed the more the audience laughed, Nicholas ad-libbed, and the camera was moved from Wendy; Families at War, hosted by Vic and Bob, saw a guy in the Guinness World Records book for walking a long way carrying a heavy load, they challenge him to carry singer Leo Sayer on his back while walking on a treadmill, Leo sang "When I Need You" at the same time, Vic Reeves increased the speed, the guy finished the challenge, but Leo stepped on the moving treadmill and slid under the crash mat; and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, with Towers of London lead singer Donny Tourette insulting Bill Bailey, Simon Amstell mocking him with putdowns for smoking and his comments, Donny has not been on TV much since. Live comedy going wrong included: The Paul O'Grady Show, filmed live at teatime, with guest Christopher Biggins who was celebrating his 60th birthday, he talked about a teacher telling him to "put a lemon up your arse" for a good walk, Paul cringed and then they make a joke of it, Hi There! 82 (a New Year show) hosted by Mike Murphy, with Diana Dors and Danny Le Rue as guests on the show, the cast of Hi-De-Hi! appeared, the character Mr. Partridge (Leslie Dwyer) made an inappropriate joke about hitting a child and encouraging parents to do the same; and Frost Weekly with Sir David Frost and Bill Pertwee doing a live sketch together, the sketch depends on sound effects, a smash is heard offscreen, the audience laughed and David and Bill corpsed, they could control themselves as the sounds of breaking glass continued. Daytime TV and chat shows with comedy going awry included: GMTV with Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) being interviewed live by Jenni Falconer, he said he imagined her with no clothes on, being in character he gets away with inappropriate comments, she was desperate to get away from him; and Friday Night... Saturday Morning featuring Monty Python's Life of Brian comedians John Cleese and Michael Palin discussing the film, they were joined by journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood the Bishop of Southwark, they talked from a religious point-of-view and ridiculed the film, Palin gets frustrated and it became a bickering match. The final comedy moment without laughs was: The Woman of the Year Lunch 1982 with Not the 9 O'clock News star Pamela Stephenson as the final speaker, she got some laughs but looked uncomfortable, she got little laughs and her swearing was not approved, the audience only tittered but applauded at the end.
I had my guesses what comedy moments would be included, the bad ones, the funny or unfunny ones and the awkward ones, I always enjoy the nostalgia seeing these moments again, but it was good to learn about those I did not know, and the serious stuff as well, overall it was an interesting and watchable documentary.
Narrated by Russell Kane, with Terry Alderton, Charlie Baker, Christopher Biggins, Catherine Bohart, comedian Freddie Davies, Have I Got News for You writer Kevin Day, Ivo Graham, Anita Harris, comedian Josh Jones, Lesley Joseph, Helen Lederer, comedian Paul McCaffrey, actor and broadcaster Eddie Nestor, Lucy Porter, Rowland Rivron, Britain's Got Talent comedy impressionist Jess Robinson, Dan Renton Skinner (Angelos Epithemiou), comedy historian Robert Ross, comedian Vikki Stone, Harriet Thorpe, and Shaun Williamson. Good!
Comedians going wrong included: Greg Davies hosting the Royal Variety Performance 2018 beginning to introduce the wrong act, the pre-recorded blunder was included in the broadcast show; and Peter Kay reluctant to sit down on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, he messed around on set and makes fun of it, he took over the show and swapped with Alan to introduce him as a "guest", then Peter leant over on the chair, falling over and hitting his face knocking the drinks cabinet. Popular TV shows featuring comedy going wrong included: Have I Got News for You with Ian Hislop getting annoyed by Jeremy Clarkson making certain jokes, Jeremy reminded him that he didn't write the jokes, Ian takes the mick of his newspaper column, Jeremy threw a pen at him, and there was accusation of assault as red was seen, either blood or pen ink; Sean Lock interviewing Bill Bailey on TV Heaven Telly Hell, they showed Brian May playing the National Anthem on top of Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee, Bill re-enacted this moment playing electric guitar, Sean came on dressed as the Queen, threw a handbag at Bill's face, Bill kept playing, they met again on Bill's show Comic's Choice a year later, Sean made a joke rather than apologising; Tonight at the London Palladium with Joe Pasquale in the royal box with a puppet, whilst talking to host Bradley Walsh the puppet's head fell off, this inadvertently became the highlight; and A League of Their Own did BMXing racing with small bikes, Romesh Ranganathan fell off his bike and was in pain with a broken wrist, the other presenters kept making E.T. jokes (the bike was named E.T.). Embarrassing comedy moments included: Stand Up Central with Russell Howard reading a comment from an audience member about being a "stegosaurus" and another from her carer, he engaged with the people in the audience, they tell him that she is disabled and the man next to her is her carer, Russell rolled around in awkwardness that he has made himself look bad; and 1990s show A Stab in the Dark, hosted by David Baddiel, politician Michael Gove attempted comedy, he was terrible at delivery and had no comic timing, and there is no laughter from the audience. Popular comedy shows having mishaps included: QI with Alan Davies given a walking stick with a saw on it, an antique, he tried to saw various things, then he grabbed a wooden part of the desk and saws it, Stephen Fry told him to stop; Taskmaster with the guests tasked with walking over to bash a drum within ten seconds, bonus points would be given for the "most magnificent walk", Jessica Knappett fell off the stage while making her attempt, but she got up and hit the drum, she got the extra point; and Shooting Stars with the Dove from Above categories board, Bon Mortimer is pooed on by a button Vic Reeves presses, at one point the button didn't work, Vic got up and slipped on the white stuff (fake poo), they later removed the Dove from the series. Unfunny comedy moments included: Locked Down Under (the lockdown version of The Last Leg) with Miriam Margoyles as a guest talking from home on internet camera, she talked about how the government had handled the COVID-19 pandemic, she said that she wished Prime Minister Boris Johnson would die, then she reversed her comment, the show received complaints; and the Comedy Central Roast Battle of Donald Trump with Jersey Shore star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino trying to make jokes, there were no laughs, he was being nasty and his jokes were rubbish, the audience booed. Unintentional funny things included: The Arthur Haynes Show was filmed live, Haynes was in a scene with Wendy Richard and Nicholas Parsons, a joke about a "winkle" caused the cast to giggle hysterically, the more they corpsed the more the audience laughed, Nicholas ad-libbed, and the camera was moved from Wendy; Families at War, hosted by Vic and Bob, saw a guy in the Guinness World Records book for walking a long way carrying a heavy load, they challenge him to carry singer Leo Sayer on his back while walking on a treadmill, Leo sang "When I Need You" at the same time, Vic Reeves increased the speed, the guy finished the challenge, but Leo stepped on the moving treadmill and slid under the crash mat; and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, with Towers of London lead singer Donny Tourette insulting Bill Bailey, Simon Amstell mocking him with putdowns for smoking and his comments, Donny has not been on TV much since. Live comedy going wrong included: The Paul O'Grady Show, filmed live at teatime, with guest Christopher Biggins who was celebrating his 60th birthday, he talked about a teacher telling him to "put a lemon up your arse" for a good walk, Paul cringed and then they make a joke of it, Hi There! 82 (a New Year show) hosted by Mike Murphy, with Diana Dors and Danny Le Rue as guests on the show, the cast of Hi-De-Hi! appeared, the character Mr. Partridge (Leslie Dwyer) made an inappropriate joke about hitting a child and encouraging parents to do the same; and Frost Weekly with Sir David Frost and Bill Pertwee doing a live sketch together, the sketch depends on sound effects, a smash is heard offscreen, the audience laughed and David and Bill corpsed, they could control themselves as the sounds of breaking glass continued. Daytime TV and chat shows with comedy going awry included: GMTV with Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) being interviewed live by Jenni Falconer, he said he imagined her with no clothes on, being in character he gets away with inappropriate comments, she was desperate to get away from him; and Friday Night... Saturday Morning featuring Monty Python's Life of Brian comedians John Cleese and Michael Palin discussing the film, they were joined by journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood the Bishop of Southwark, they talked from a religious point-of-view and ridiculed the film, Palin gets frustrated and it became a bickering match. The final comedy moment without laughs was: The Woman of the Year Lunch 1982 with Not the 9 O'clock News star Pamela Stephenson as the final speaker, she got some laughs but looked uncomfortable, she got little laughs and her swearing was not approved, the audience only tittered but applauded at the end.
I had my guesses what comedy moments would be included, the bad ones, the funny or unfunny ones and the awkward ones, I always enjoy the nostalgia seeing these moments again, but it was good to learn about those I did not know, and the serious stuff as well, overall it was an interesting and watchable documentary.
Narrated by Russell Kane, with Terry Alderton, Charlie Baker, Christopher Biggins, Catherine Bohart, comedian Freddie Davies, Have I Got News for You writer Kevin Day, Ivo Graham, Anita Harris, comedian Josh Jones, Lesley Joseph, Helen Lederer, comedian Paul McCaffrey, actor and broadcaster Eddie Nestor, Lucy Porter, Rowland Rivron, Britain's Got Talent comedy impressionist Jess Robinson, Dan Renton Skinner (Angelos Epithemiou), comedy historian Robert Ross, comedian Vikki Stone, Harriet Thorpe, and Shaun Williamson. Good!
